49ers, Rams taking opposite approaches to longest road trip in NFL history

Published September 3, 2026 09:51 AM The 49ers are already in the air aboard their 16-hour flight to Melbourne, Australia, for a game against the Rams that won’t kick off for another seven and a half days. They want plenty of time to adjust to Melbourne time after the longest road trip in NFL history.The Rams are taking a very different approach.Although Rams coach Sean McVay has declined to discuss the team’s travel plans, they’re reportedly leaving on Wednesday, September 9, which will mean landing less than 24 hours before kickoff: The game kicks off at 8:35 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, September 10, which is 10:35 a.m. on Friday, September 11, in Melbourne.The Rams think delaying international travel for as long as possible the smart approach, and there’s some precedent to suggest they’re right: Last year the Rams didn’t arrive in London for their game against the Jaguars until the day before, and they proceeded to destroy the Jaguars, who have long-established London travel plans of arriving days in advance.The NFL requires teams traveling to games to put enough of a buffer into their travel plans to ensure that even if there are flight delays, the game itself won’t be delayed. The Rams are cutting it about as close as the NFL will let them.But as the NFL continues to push international expansion, the league might love to see the Rams successfully pull off long road trips in a short time: If teams can show they don’t need a lot of time to adjust before and after road games, that lends credence to the NFL’s stance that the league could successfully put teams overseas on a permanent basis, with long road trips in both directions not compromising the quality of the competition.